The Next Chapter...

Survivors of sexual abuse are at the forefront of our Charity, and for the past 10 months, we have been working non-stop to transform our vision into a reality.

Starting from absolutely nothing, we designed our logo and brand, brought on board trustees and now volunteers, spent countless hours writing business plans, exploring complex legal issues to win our Charity status and Charity number, whilst still supporting survivors.

Maggie continues her campaigning work alongside this on both a local and national platform, with a great deal going on behind the scenes.

Fundraisers have helped raise money for The Foundation by organising sponsored events by climbing Mount Snowden, running marathons, donating raffle prizes and even writing a song for us which has become our ‘theme tune’.

Following lots of hard work and headaches, we organised a fabulous Christmas fundraising night at Shrigley Hall where we raised an unbelievable £10,000 to help us open the pilot Centre and our heartfelt thanks go out to the many who helped make this such a success.

And we did it! In early February, thanks to the incredible generosity of The Sanctuary Trust giving us a small premise where we could begin the next chapter, we quietly opened the first pilot Maggie Oliver Centre in Rochdale. This was all thanks to the determination, commitment and tireless work of special people, and so we began to offer weekly meetings to survivors of sexual abuse who can self refer and come along and join us. These meetings have quickly become a highlight of the week, where coffee and bacon sandwiches accompany a listening ear as survivors begin to transform their Pain into power…

The next chapter has begun, as we work with survivors to create the Centre they want. Our pilot Centre is very small though and now we urgently need our own premises so we can offer what survivors tell us they need. We need funding, to build more local partnerships and then we can make our Centre a unique oasis of kindness, support, understanding and empowerment for the many who are otherwise lost in isolation...